Blue's News

Another roundup of news from the Net...

Of course, the big news (other than the boy in the woods) is the blocking of Bolton's nomination again. Bush is said to be considering a recess appointment while Congress is out of session for the Fourth of July holiday.

Some other stuff you might have missed...

Cnet: "Your ISP as Net Watchdog"

The U.S. Department of Justice is quietly shopping around the explosive idea of requiring Internet service providers to retain records of their customers' online activities.

Data retention rules could permit police to obtain records of e-mail chatter, Web browsing or chat-room activity months after Internet providers ordinarily would have deleted the logs--that is, if logs were ever kept in the first place. No U.S. law currently mandates that such logs be kept.

In theory, at least, data retention could permit successful criminal and terrorism prosecutions that otherwise would have failed because of insufficient evidence. But privacy worries and questions about the practicality of assembling massive databases of customer behavior have caused a similar proposal to stall in Europe and could engender stiff opposition domestically.

NY Times: "Libraries Say Yes, Officials Do Quiz Them About Users"

WASHINGTON, June 19 - Law enforcement officials have made at least 200 formal and informal inquiries to libraries for information on reading material and other internal matters since October 2001, according to a new study that adds grist to the growing debate in Congress over the government's counterterrorism powers.

In some cases, agents used subpoenas or other formal demands to obtain information like lists of users checking out a book on Osama bin Laden. Other requests were informal - and were sometimes turned down by librarians who chafed at the notion of turning over such material, said the American Library Association, which commissioned the study.

The association, which is pushing to scale back the government's powers to gain information from libraries, said its $300,000 study was the first to examine a question that was central to a House vote last week on the USA Patriot Act: how frequently federal, state and local agents are demanding records from libraries.

The Bush administration says that while it is important for law enforcement officials to get information from libraries if needed in terrorism investigations, officials have yet to actually use their power under the Patriot Act to demand records from libraries or bookstores.

NY Times: "Uzbek Ministries in Crackdown Received U.S. Aid"

MOSCOW, June 17 - Uzbek law enforcement and security ministries implicated by witnesses in the deadly crackdown in the city of Andijon last month have for years received training and equipment from counterterrorism programs run by the United States, according to American officials and Congressional records.

The security aid, provided by several United States agencies, has been intended in part to improve the abilities of soldiers and law enforcement officers from the Uzbek intelligence service, military and Ministry of Internal Affairs, the national law enforcement service. Besides equipment aid, at least hundreds of special forces soldiers and security officers, many of whom fight terrorism, have received training.

Witnesses and American officials say the Uzbek Army, law enforcement and intelligence service were all present at the crackdown. Among them was a special Internal Affairs counterterrorism unit known as Bars, which has two or three members who trained in a course sponsored by the State Department for crisis-response commanders in Louisiana in 2004, according to the State Department.

It is not clear whether these specific officers were present in Andijon, although their unit was...

The participation of ministries that have received American aid underscores the implicit gamble in giving security help to a repressive state.

The United States has worked closely with Uzbekistan, a corrupt and autocratic state with a chilling human rights record, in the fight against international terrorism. It has also tried to professionalize the Uzbek military, improve its border security and help secure materials that could be used in nuclear, chemical or biological weapons - areas of engagement that American officials say are of clear national interest.

Washington Post: "Health Care Costs, Spending Up"

After hints that the rapid growth in health care spending was slowing, a report being released today suggests the brief reprieve has stalled and the soaring costs are likely to force more people out of the market.

Health spending by privately insured Americans rose 8.2 percent in 2004, virtually the same increase as the previous year, according to analysts at the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan research group.

More significantly, for the eighth straight year the growth in medical costs far outpaced the growth of wages -- by nearly four times in 2004 -- a trend that suggests more Americans will be unable to afford their health insurance, said the group's president, Paul Ginsburg.

"This is very worrisome to me," said Ginsburg, one of three authors of the study being published by the journal Health Affairs. "If the cost trend stays at the level it is today -- well above the trend of earnings -- this could lead to a substantial decline in the [percentage of] people with insurance."

Washington Post: "GOP Senators to Propose New Tack on Social Security"

Key Republican lawmakers, scrambling to keep President Bush's Social Security proposals afloat, plan next week to embrace an idea that many have avoided thus far: funding personal retirement accounts with surplus revenue that now pays for other government programs.

The strategy is controversial because it would create new budget problems. Either the diverted money would have to be replaced with new taxes, or Congress would have to slash programs now funded by Social Security's excess payroll taxes.

Republicans said yesterday that they will address those concerns later. First, they said, they want to create momentum and enthusiasm for Bush's proposed private accounts, which are so unpopular with congressional Democrats and with many Americans that some supporters privately consider them in deep peril.

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